Sonagachi project 11 year anniversary get-together

[Guest guest]

DEAR FRIENDS,

By February 15th 2003 “SONAGACHI PROJECT” will complete its eleven years of

meaningful exsistance. In the year of 1992 when a small HIV prevention project

was launched in Sonagachi red light district in Kolkata, even many of us who

were deeply involved in initiating this program were not very sure about its

future course of action, least to talk about its probable impact on the health

and life of the sex-workers community.

It was difficult to conceive even a couple of year’s back that a small project

of its kind could create a flutter in the domain of public health. Sonagachi in

the process has brought forward a host of social issues, ideas and innumerable

questions in the development dialogue. The project has expanded enormousely over

the period spreading throughout the state of West-bengal. [Presently we work in

41 areas incorporating Brothel; street and hotel based male, Female and

Transgender sex-workers community of around 60,000 sex workers] The present

program has bro adened its base to include various development components, not

just restricting itself to health and HIV.

The sex-workers community has come forward to develop their own network and

forums to deal with their basic rights to health in the broader framework of

livlihood security and the rights to self determination. This social

mobilisation process has added newer dimensions in the lives and profession of

the sex workers and in turn the project has dared to challenge the existing

paradigm of health intervention model and the strategy of development program.

This did not happen in a single day neither a single person could be attributed

for all these developments. Down the memory lane there are countless stories and

events - of struggle and hardship. We have innumerable stories of successes and

failures, of joy and despair.

We do not claim that everything has been achieved neither all experiments and

activities planned and implemented by many of us to overcome various social and

political challenges were made all perfect and effective. We made many mistakes

and are very much in the learning curve.But it is you and your continuous

support and feed back has helped us immensely to continue with this struggle. It

is YOU and many of your friends and colleagues’ precious thoughts and

suggestions besides the material, moral and emotional contributions essentially

have made the changes happen. Without you and your support the transformation of

‘present Sonagachi’ would have not been possible.

We know that flashes of Sonagachi keeps blazing past many of your minds in some

rare moments and many of you keep remembering all those good days of the past.

How can we allow all those memories to be fading out of our minds? Can we simply

ignore all those days of turmoil and moments of happiness that we have gone

through!

With all these in mind let’s get together on the 15th of February, 2003 in

Kolkata; no, not for any formal discussion sessions. We wish to get your touch,

wish to share your thoughts and emotion…we hope to be in togetherness in the

mood of cherishing our old friendships through fun and laughter… chating away in

a nostalgic mood. We can shout, we can sing…one can go in retrospecting all

those mistakes and failures … one can start envisioning the future the way she

likes to have-there will be no restriction in expressing thoughts and emotion.

What we need to do all these things with a spirit of rejuvenating our life and

aspiration. So please mark the date in your calendar (15th Feb 2003) with red,

blue, yellow, green…whatever colour you fill like. The venue, the time, the size

of the table, the menu, the warmth of sunlight all will be reserved for you. It

is Your Presence what is needed most. So, please be there on that Day.

Yours in Solidarity

(Mrinal kanti Dutta)

Project director, Durbar

(Angura Begum)

Secretary, Durbar

On behalf of Re-union Committee

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